Automatic telephone pay-station.



W. MILYFORD.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE PAY STATION. APPLIOATION ULEB 1101.29, 1910. RENEWBD JULY 17,1912. 1,053,849..

Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1 W. MILFORD.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE PAY STATION.

APPLICATION FILED 11017.29, 1910.v yLLNLWED JULY 17,1912.

Lwo Petentea Feb.18,1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2. /f, 5, y e

Wr Tee/5555s W.. MILFORD. AUTOMATICTELBPHONB PAY STATION. APPLICATION FILED Nov. 29, 1910. RBNBWED JULY 17,1912.

1,053,84;9 Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Avr-@wanen W. MILFORD.

AUTOMATIU TELEPHONE PAY STATION.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 29, 1910. RBNBWED JULY 17,1912. 1,05 3,849.

Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4,

uNrrEn .srl-iras PATENT oEEicE.

WALTER MILEOED, or, sYEAcUsE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNon, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

'rp GEORGE c. YocUM, 0E soRANToN, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE PAY-STATION.

Specification of Letters Patent..

Patented Feb. 18,1913.

ApplcatonflledNovember 29, 1910, Serial No. 594,754. Renewed July 17, 1912. ,Serial No. 710,055.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, VALTER MILFORD, of

Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Telephone Pay-Stations, of which. the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear,l and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in automaticpay stations for telephone toll service, pay as you enter street cars, 'coin controlled vending machines and other uses to which such a device might be applied for automatically rendering some service upon the prepayment of a coin or coins of the same or different denominations. ln the use of this class of instruments it is well known that a considerable percentage of spurious coins or disks commonly known as slugs are substituted for the genuine coins and this is particularly true of 'telephone toll stations which are usually located in 1oooths and other isolated places where they afford ample oppor-` tunity for the use of spurious coins or slugs wit-hout liability of detection and results in a considerable loss to the owners or operators of the system.

The main object of my present invention is to produce a simple, compact and eiiicient coin receiving device by which the slugs or counterfeits will be separated from the genuine coins and returned to the depositor without rendering any service and at the same time to enable the good coins to perform the service or functions for which they were intended andv to be finally deposited in a concealed receptacle out of reach of the operator and separate from the spurious coins or slugs.

The details of the invention will be made clear from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

ln the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pay station embodying the various features of my invention as used for telephone service. Fig. 2 is a top plan of the same instrument 'omitting the telephone and showing the top wall of the case removed to disclose the interior mechanism. Fig. 3 is a top plan similar to Fig. 2 omitting the guide ring for the coins andshowing particularly the .coin chutes, and signals associated therewith and also the slug receptacle and guide leading therefrom to the exterior of the case. Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the' device shown in Fig. 1 except that the telephone is omitted and the adjacent side of the case is removed to disclose the interior mechanism, one of, the coin chutes and portion of the signal and also a portion of the return chute and receptacle for the slugs being shownv partly in section. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 5 5, Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the developed guide ring showing several coin guides, the inlets and portions of the coin chutes being shown in section. Fig. 7 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of the guide ring through portions of the several coin guides. Figs.

8 and 9 are sectional views of two of the coin chutes and adjacent portions of the guide ring and coin receptacle, one of the signals being shown in sect-ion in Fig. 8 and the other signal in elevation in Fig. 9. Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the upper portion of one of the coin chutes and adjacent portion of the guide ring with which it is connected. Fig. 11 is an elevation of a portion of the guide ring showing particularly one of the discharge openings for the slugs and the ioating guide rail associated therewith. Fig. 12 is a horizontal sectional View of a portion of the same guide' ring taken on line 12-12 Fig. 11. Figs. 13 endl-1 are vertical sectional views of one side ofthe guide ring taken on line l13-14 Fig. 11, the floating rail being shown in normal position in Fig. 13 for guiding the coin past the slug opening while Fig. 14 shows the rail as slightly raised by the passage of the slug through the opening. Figs. 15 and 16 are respectively a top plan and transverse sectional view of a modified form of guide ring having slug openings on theinside of the coin guides. y

This apparatus comprises an inclosing case 1 having a plurality of, in this instance three, separate iulet guides or gages -2-, 3* `and lle- ,preferably located in or upon the top ot the case and gaged to the maximum sizes of coins ot ditlerent denominations such as nickels, dimes and quarter-dollars and thereby preventing the insertion of any coins or disks which may be of greater diameter or size than the gen'- uine coins. These inlets are further distinguished one trom the other by suitable characters asl numerals 5, l0 and 25 printed or otherwise impressed upon the guides or adI jacent portions of the case to indicate the point ot entrance of the required coin. l/l/'ithin the casing, and preferably secured to the under side of the top thereof, is arranged a member B, preferably in the form of a cylinder, and comprising an inner ring 5, having coin guideways in its periphery, and an outer ring atorming the outer walls ot said guideways. ln the device illustrated in the drawing the member B is provided with three guidew'ays 6, Z and 23, which are spirally arranged, inclining downward in the saine general direction tromtheir respective inlets 2, 3 and t, at the top ot the casing, to suitable coin chutes 9,10 and 1l at the lower side ot said member, the outlet end of each guideway extending some distance vbeyond the vertical plane ot the inlet ot the nent adjacent guidcwayl, thereby permitting the guides to be made ol'considerable length within a comparatively small and compact space. lt will be evident that coins moving by gravity through the guidewafys will be thrown by centrifugal -force A against the outer walls ot the guideways. The transverse dimensions ot each coin race or guide are somewhat larger than the coin whichit is adapted to receive and therefore larger than the mouth ot the inlet through which the coin is tirst inserted so as to permit such coins to roll or gravitate treely trom the inlet to the outlet without liability ot retardation by ,excessive friction. Y

The intermediate portions ot the outer walls ot the coin guides 6, l? and 8 are provided with circumterentially elongated slots or openings' l2, 18 and 14 ot'- slightly less vertical width than the diameter et the coins which are adapted to pass through said guides andtherefore ot slightly less width than `that ot their respective inlets 2, 3 and l so 'that any slugs or disks ot even slightly less diameter or size than that ot the designated coins will be thrown out wardly or laterally through said slots or` openings and away trom the coin guides while the perfect coins will pass entirely through the guides and into their respect-ive chutes thereby automatically separating the undersiaed disks or slugs from the coins. ln some instances these disks or slugs may be ot exactly the same diameter as the vertical width oit the slot or opening or may be slightly eccentric under which conditions vrespective coin guides -6--,

they are more or less liable to become wedged or trictionally'v caught between the lower and upper walls and thereby tail to pass through such opening. ln order to obviate this liability the outer walls ofl the coin guides are provided withy vertically movable guide rails or floating sections -15-v constituting the top walls ot their respective openings #-12, liand -lLland preferably formed of light or thin sheet metal capable ot being litted by and under rolling momentum or centrifugal torce ot such slugs or disks sudiciently to allow latter to pass out throughtheir respective openings. Each tloating section is normally but loosely supported at its ends parallel with the bottom ot its corresponding coin guides upon suitable shoulders w16- and is alsov loosely held against outward displacement by spring retaining lingers -17- which are secured to the main supporting ring atl opposite ends ot the adjacent slugopening and provided with narrow bearings in Contact with the outer faces of the ends ot said tloating section so that the latter may be lifted by the slightest upward pressure against its lower edge.

rl`he coin chutes -9-, -ltl and -llare secured in a more or less upright and clined position within the case -lland upon a suitable supporting plate or horizontal partition lw with their upper ends in registration with the outlet ends ot their Jl and -8- and their lower ends discharging through openingsfin the plate Hi8# into an underlying receptacle or money drawer -19-= which, in this instance, is common to all of the chutes and is normally locked within the base of the case to properly con ceal and protect the money against malicious removal.

@ne oit the important features ot .i this invention is that the spurious coins or slugs performing the function tor which they l were intended and for this purpose the slugs 'discharged from the openings l2, i3 and lt are caused to gravitate into underlying pockets -2G which converge downwardly and inwardly below and around the anis of the ring 41+ and discharge into an underlying hopper -21-. This hopper is 'prelierably coaxial with and below theA main guide-ring -5- and provided with down wardly -and inwardly inclined or conical sides terminating at the apen in asubstantially tlat slug-chute -22- which is arranged edgewise vertically and` entends downwardly and laterally in an inclined plane to a suitable outlet M23- in the adilo lIME

roaasae jacent side of the ease Where the slugs are finally delivered into a receiving tray -24- on the exterior of said case.

In an apparatus of this character Whether used in connection with telephone service, in coin controlled vending'machin, pay-asyou-enter cars or in any other relation, it

1r ay be desirable to provide means such as signals operated by either the coins or slugs (or byboth) to enable any one Within hearing or seeing distance of the machine to detect any attempt to make improper use of the same by repeated use of slugs and for this purpose I have associated With the several coin chutes separate and audibly distinctive signals consisting, in this instance, of bells 9.5` and -26- and a gong -Q7 each having a portion thereof projecting a sufficient distance into its corresponding chute to be engaged by the coin in transit therethrough Without liability of' impeding the progress of such coinand it is clearly evident that a similar gong or bell may be similarly disposed in the path of movement of the slugs While in transit from -the main guide ring to the receiving tray 2i- By this means any one stationed in or near the room in Which the instrument is installed may readily detect any attempt to operate the instrument by the use ofy spurious coins or slugs and thereby prevent a repetition of such attempts.

In the particular instrument thus far described the slugs are discharged by gravity and centrifugal force through openings inv the outer s ide of the main, guide ring but it is clearly evident that the objects of this invention may be carried out by various modifications such for example as that shown in Figs. 15 and 16, in which is illustrated a frusto-conical member B', having its apex at the top, said member comprising an outer ring 30, having the spirally arranged guidevvays 6, 7 and 8 on its inner face, and a ring 30a forming the inner Walls of the guideways, said latter ring being provided with elongated openings -9-, -10- aud -11- through Which the slugs may readily gravitate into the underlying hopper -2l and thence through the slug chute -22- and outlet -23- to the external receiving tray 24- While the monetary coins will be delivered into their respective chutes -12-, 13 and lband thence into the concealed receptacle -15 in substantially thesame manner as previously described.

VThe operation of my invention Will now be readily understood with reference to the foregoing description and accompanying drawings and it is evident that the detail construction shown and described may be materially modified Without departing from the spirit of my invention and therefore I do not limit myself to the exact construction and arrangement of the various parts of the device herein specifically set forth.

"Vhat I claim is:

l. A member having a circular Wall With a plurality of spirally arranged coin guide- Ways therein, each guideway having a lat-- eral opening for the escape of coins or slugs under a given size.

2. A member having a circular Wall With a plurality of spirally arranged coin guide- Ways therein, each guideway extending only part Way around said member and each guideway having a lateral opening forv the escape of coins or slugs under a given size.

3. A member having a circular Wall With a plurality of spirally arranged coin guideways therein, each guidew'ayextending from end to end ofand only part Way around said member, and each guideWay having a lateral opening for the escape of coins or slugs under a given size.

4. A casing having a top provided with a plurality of coin slots, andy an annular member supported beneath said top and having a plurality of spirally arranged coin guideways meeting said slots, each guideway having a lateral opening for the escape of coins or slugs under a given size.

5. A member having a circular Wall with a plurality of spirally arranged coin guide- Ways, each guideway having a lateral opening in one side, the upper Wall of each opening comprising a guide rail adapted to yield to upward pressure.

6. A member having a plurality of coin guideways therein, said memberl comprising two rings arranged one Within the other, one of said rings having spiral grooves formed therein, and the other ring extending over said grooves and havingl lateral openings opposite the grooves for the escape of coins under a given size.

7. A member having a plurality of coin guideways therein, said-member comprising two rings arranged one Within the other, one of said rings having spiral grooves formed therein, the other ring extending over said grooves and having lateral openings opposite the grooves for the escape of coins under a given size, and guide-rails, adapted to yield to upward pressure, forming the upper Walls of said'openings.

8. An inclined coin guide having an opening in one side and a loosely supported guide-rail forming the upper Wall of the opening, said guide rail being adapted to move so as to enlarge the opening in respense to the pressure of a slug or coin passing through the guide and bearing against the under side of said rail.

9. A spirally arranged coin guide having an opening in one side and a loosely supported guide-rail forming the upper wall of the `opening, said guide rail being adapted to move so as to enlarge the opening in re- 4te enlarge the opening., in response to the d; Leeeeee pessux'e of e lslug or com passing through 1J the guide anni bearing ageiiist the under side of seid miL L1 Witness whereof i have hereunto set my bend om this 27th ay of October 1910.

spouse to the pressure el? s slug oi? coin pessing through the guide and bearing geins'J the under side of se rail.

10. An inclined coin guide disposed edgei Wise veticelly end having an opening in one side, and a loosely supported guide rail W TER MILFURD. fern ing the upper Weil of the opening, said; l Witnesses ;v

H. E, CHASE,

guide mii being edepted to move vertically,

E. F. SPEAKING; 

